South-west China landslide kills 18, dozens more buried

BEIJING (AFP) - A landslide in southwestern China's Yunnan Province on Friday killed at least 18 people, including seven from one family, with more than two dozen others trapped, state media and local authorities said.

A total of 46 people were buried in the disaster in landslide-prone province, 18 of whom were killed, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The Zhenxiong county government gave the same death toll.

Emergency teams had so far rescued two villagers after the landslide, which buried 16 homes, the provincial government said. It also reported the deaths of the seven family members.

Photos that it posted online showed workers digging in wide swathes of clumpy mud against a backdrop of snow-covered terraced hills.

The mountainous area is prone to landslides - one in a neighbouring county in October killed 18 children while two earthquakes in Yunnan in September, one of magnitude 5.7, left 81 people dead and hundreds injured.

The Straits Times

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